(Note: All stories referenced are supported by links in bold)

Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill once said that “all politics is local”; but I would add, so is police brutality. Like politics, police brutality is both a national issue with its sharpest focus on the local level; impacting families and communities alike. The names may differ nationally, from Eric Garner in New York to Kendrec McDade in Pasadena, CA to now Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. But the common threads of police brutality and the use of deadly force run through each of them.

Though all of the various incidents are ostensibly unrelated, their effect is cumulative; especially in this post-social media world. None of these incidents occurs in a vacuum. The anger in Ferguson is not only about the shooting death of Michael Brown. It is specifically focused around that, but not without conscience to others like it. Let me just tell you about the past 11 months.

Septemer 26, 2013 – 24-year old Jonathan Ferrell died after being shot 10 times in 12 bullets fired by Charlotte police officer Randall Kerrick. Ferrell was in a car accident, unarmed and seeking police assistance at the time of being killed. Kerrick is presently on trial for voluntary manslaughter.

February 25, 2014 – 30-year-old Marcus Jeter, originally accused of attacking police and “going for an officer’s gun” after a routine traffic stop was exonerated by a dash cam originally buried by police. Make note of assertions by the police that Jeter (for absolutely no reason), “attacked” police and attempted to grab an officer’s gun, although the accused had his hands clearly in the air. (I’m looking at you Ferguson, MO. )

June 16th – City of Pasadena, CA settles million dollar wrongful death lawsuit with the family of then 19-year-old Kendrec McDade, unarmed, killed by officers responding to a bogus 911 call.

June 28^th – An Arizona State University professor is slammed to the ground after “refusing to show ID” to an officer over alleged jaywalking on a college campus. Not a major thoroughfare, but a college campus street.

July 1^st – A 51-year-old homeless woman is taken down by a surprise chokehold and repeatedly punched by a California Highway Patrol officer on video. As of yet, no particular reason for the altercation, no charges were filed and the woman had no weapon.

July 17^th – Eric Garner dies while being arrested by officers of the NYPD, video indicates use of a chokehold; which was outlawed by the department in 1993. I said “1993.” Bill Clinton had just become president…for his FIRST term. The chokehold was outlawed without exception or justification. It was not allowable for loose cigarette kingpins or even hardened criminals.

Without exception.

July 23^rd – video surfaces of NYPD putting a man in an illegal chokehold for sneaking on to a subway platform.

July 28^th – Photos and video were released of police officer putting a pregnant woman in a chokehold in New York over an issue of “illegal grilling.” Yes, as in burgers, hot dogs and short ribs…THAT type of grilling.

August 1^{st –} Coroner rules Eric Garner’s death a “homicide.” Garner, according to police was the kingpin of selling “loose, untaxed, 75-cent cigarettes”…or something asinine like that. Officers engaged him just shortly after Garner broke up a fight between two other individuals.

With all that as a precursor, you are now prepared to best understand the events in Ferguson, MO.

August 9^th – 18-year-old Michael Brown is shot in the chest by police after alleged “jaywalking” incident which then escalated. Police accused Brown of grabbing for officer’s gun (for no particular reason) while assaulting an officer in his police car.  Brown was scheduled to start college on Monday, but for whatever reasons thought that trying to take an officer’s gun right after jaywalking was somehow more attractive of a life option.  Or at least, that is what the police will have you believe.

From TIME Magazine:

In an interview with MSNBC, Dorion Johnson, 22, said that his friend, Michael Brown, 18, was walking in the street when the officer ordered him to the sidewalk. When Brown did not immediately comply, the officer put him in a chokehold. The young man struggled to free himself, and the officer pulled his gun and fired.  Wounded, Brown tried to flee, but was shot a second time in the back. That’s when he turned with his hands raised, Johnson said. “I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting!” he said, but additional shots were fired.”

The police department involved in the shooting have as of yet offered to even interview Johnson, a witness to the shooting and now a federal investigation has begun. Media has been ordered beyond the perimeter of the unrest area and unable to report firsthand the ongoing tension between residents and police.

This is saying nothing of the ongoing, documented racial profiling issues linked to a now-fired St. Louis County police Lieutenant, for specifically targeting Black citizens.

The issues are bigger than just Ferguson, MO and the unrest is not solely about the death of Michael Brown. If you’ve been paying attention, you already know this. If you cared even a little, then none of this should be new OR news. In recent years, the issue of constitutional rights has been focused more on the issue of gun rights, replete with displays of assault rifles slung over shoulders in fast food restaurants.

When in truth, the real issues of constitutionality are connected to the deaths of unarmed civilians.

August 11 – 24-year-old, unarmed Ezell Ford fatally shot in the back by LAPD while lying down according to witness reports.

I am more concerned about being able to walk and drive freely throughout America without putting my life in danger than I am the other faux outrage issues dominating the news.  Don’t tell me you are concerned about securing the borders from undocumented immigrants, yet unconcerned with protecting American citizens where they live.  I am not interested in hearing it.

The reality is that in terms of the total multi-ethnic, multi-colored American community, only one portion is consistently suffering from it and only one seems to care.

lllegal grilling, jaywalking (twice), alleged loose cigarette distribution. But I’m supposed to be concerned about “Obama coming to take our guns”?

Um…no.

I laugh out loud. I laugh to keep from crying. I feel the tears well up each time I read the police lie about their actions, commentators blame the victims and citizens complain about “tyranny”…yet can jaywalk or drive throughout America without fatal consequence.

For whatever reasons, those individuals seemingly most “concerned” with the tyranny of government and the oppressive police state are never around regarding these issues. The imaginary bogeyman I suppose is more appealing (and supposedly more dangerous to liberty) than the real one.  Fear-mongering is much more sexy than actual fear so it seems.

I’ve come to find that people aren’t really interested in justice all of the time for all people, just some of the time for some people. Selective justice, specifically catered to those with selective amnesia and intermittent sympathy.

Despite all of these incidents and videos to substantiate them, only one community is fighting for the justice of those victimized in the videos.

One.

Where are you Latino leaders?  Where are you gay rights leaders?  Where are you Asian leaders, where are you civil rights-minded members of the White community?  Where are you?

For whatever reasons, this is not a national outrage.  I am not here to parse motivations or the reasons why.  I am just telling you what it is and what it is not.  We as a nation are largely indifferent to what has been happening to a very specific and defined subset of ordinary, unarmed citizenry.

This is the damning evidence of the difference in policing techniques relative to communities of color, not difference in actual behavior.  This is the damning evidence as to racial profiling and the relative indifference of those not fitting the profile.  These are the smoking guns of both women and children being violently and illegally mistreated over mostly pedestrian violations. I don’t even know how to categorize “illegal grilling.” Let me know if/when you figure it out. Be you pregnant or homeless woman, unarmed and college-bound teenager, or father suspected of selling smokes; your life is in danger.

Real danger, not the imaginary, partisan politicking kind.

Justice for Eric Garner, Michael Brown and every other man, woman and child who has died or been senselessly victimized in a nation in which its citizens largely do not care.

Justice for everyone, all the time…not just for some, some of the time.